Lost Anne Rice Vampire Comic Book Turns Up 30 Years Later

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Prior to the television series “Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe” on AMC and the film “Interview with the Vampire,” Anne Rice’s vampires were only visually depicted through comic books. In 1989, Innovation Comics began publishing a comic book adaptation of Rice’s three “Vampire Chronicles” novels, starting with her 1985 novel “The Vampire Lestat.” This series consisted of twelve issues and was a commercial success. The success led to adaptations of “Interview with the Vampire” and the third novel, “Queen of the Damned,” in 1991. Unfortunately, the final issue of the latter never made it to comic book stores. Thirty years later, the artwork by OJ Cariello from that missing final issue has now been revealed. Recently, scans of the pages have been shared on the vampirechronicles Instagram account.

It seems that the concluding part of “Queen of the Damned” wasn’t released because Innovation Comics, the publisher, faced bankruptcy as a result of a significant drop in comic book sales during the mid-’90s, often referred to as the “comics crunch.” This decline was largely caused by the speculator boom in the ’90s. The unfortunate timing meant that the final issue of “Queen of the Damned” went into production just before Innovation Comics’ financial troubles began, in 1994.

Back in times before the Internet, enthusiasts had no clue about the events that unfolded. They only knew that the concluding chapter of Rice’s comic book trilogy was never delivered. However, more than three decades after, the finished artwork for the last installment was put up for auction. It appears a single buyer snapped them all up. Many pages were subsequently shared on Comic Art Fans, providing fans with their first glimpse at the final issue.

It’s intriguing to ponder why those vintage comics haven’t been licensed yet for reprinting, considering their value on platforms like eBay now. Innovation had a successful run with “The Vampire Lestat,” but unfortunately, the collected edition of “Interview with the Vampire” was never released. With the art from “Queen of the Damned” readily available, it would be fantastic if a well-known comic book publisher could acquire the rights and reprint all three for fans to enjoy. Given the recent resurgence in interest for Rice’s vampires due to AMC series, this would be an ideal opportunity to introduce show enthusiasts to our first visual interpretations of Lestat and his companions, before they appeared on either big or small screens.

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2025-09-08 20:32